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Letter: Heitkamp has worked well with both sides on many issues

In a recent letter to the editor, the chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, Robert Harms, made an odd claim that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp needs to be more bipartisan.

As someone who worked in a bipartisan manner with Republican colleagues for nearly 40 years on a Public Service Commission, it is my judgment that Mr. Harms’ claim is not at all accurate.

In fact, I believe that Sen. Heitkamp is one of the most pragmatic and results-orientated members of the U.S. Senate. On every major issue that crossed her path in her first year of office, Sen. Heitkamp worked with colleagues of all stripes to get the job done for North Dakota and our country.

Mr. Harms appropriately congratulated Sen. Heitkamp and our delegation for bipartisan compromise on the farm bill but left out Sen. Heitkamp’s other accomplishments.

For example, when American was on the brink of another unpopular military intervention in Syria, Sen. Heitkamp spoke up to secure the chemical weapons in Syria’s possession without unnecessarily putting the men and women of the Armed Forces in harm’s way.

When extreme members of the Republican Party shut down the federal government, Sen. Heitkamp sat down with a bipartisan group of senators to broker a deal that got our government and economy back on track.

The list goes on and on. Mr. Harms’ claim that Sen. Heitkamp doesn’t work with both sides of the aisle in Washington simply isn’t factual. Sen. Heitkamp’s very public record tells the real story.